Cagayan de Oro City — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is considering imposing a toll fee on vehicles passing through the newly opened Panguil Bay Bridge, which has significantly reduced travel time between Lanao del Norte and Misamis Occidental.

According to DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, the toll fee would be used to maintain the bridge, which is now accessible to all types of vehicles.

“A study is being conducted to determine the feasibility of imposing a toll,” Bonoan said in a recent radio interview.

The 3.69-kilometer Panguil Bay Bridge, the longest in Mindanao, was officially opened to traffic by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday.

In his State of the Nation Address last 22 July, the President announced the bridge’s opening, noting that it was the second major bridge to be completed this year. The other bridge, the Gicam Bridge in Zamboanga, connects Olutanga Island to mainland Mindanao.

Prior to the opening of the Pangil Bay Bridge, travel time between Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte and Ozamis City exceeded two hours. Passengers and vehicles traveling to Misamis Occidental had to undergo security checks before boarding ferry boats that crossed the Panguil Bay area.

In 2000, a tragic incident occurred when suspected terrorists bombed three buses aboard a ferry boat crossing Panguil Bay.